Analysis of Vowels Associated With Stuttering
Mentor 1
Carol H. Seery
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
In this research, stuttering was examined in association with vowel features. Past research has revealed that stutter events primarily occur at word-initial locations. Words consist of syllables that consist of an optional consonant onset and a rime which may be a single vowel or a vowel-consonant combination. The perceptual impression that stuttering blocks appear to be triggered at the location of the transition into the vowel of the rime gave rise to this investigation of the features of rime vowel locations where stuttering blocks occur. Although previous studies of stuttering locations examined word-initial consonants and vowels, no investigations were found of stuttering locations associated with the subsequent vowels of the rime into which consonant onsets must transition. Using transcriptions of speech samples (n=20) previously collected from children ages 4 to 12 in a larger project, the authors tallied the numbers of stuttering instances on rime vowel locations, classified by intended vowel position classes. Tallies were examined relative to the number of opportunities for the vowel classes in each sample, to create a proportional analysis of the stuttered vowel classes. Comparing these proportions, statistics revealed that some vowel features appear to be associated with stuttering at greater than chance levels. It is unknown whether the underlying mechanisms are related to acoustic or physiologic properties. With more knowledge about the nature of stuttering, hopefully better strategies will be found for speech management in the future.
Analysis of Vowels Associated With Stuttering
Union Wisconsin Room
In this research, stuttering was examined in association with vowel features. Past research has revealed that stutter events primarily occur at word-initial locations. Words consist of syllables that consist of an optional consonant onset and a rime which may be a single vowel or a vowel-consonant combination. The perceptual impression that stuttering blocks appear to be triggered at the location of the transition into the vowel of the rime gave rise to this investigation of the features of rime vowel locations where stuttering blocks occur. Although previous studies of stuttering locations examined word-initial consonants and vowels, no investigations were found of stuttering locations associated with the subsequent vowels of the rime into which consonant onsets must transition. Using transcriptions of speech samples (n=20) previously collected from children ages 4 to 12 in a larger project, the authors tallied the numbers of stuttering instances on rime vowel locations, classified by intended vowel position classes. Tallies were examined relative to the number of opportunities for the vowel classes in each sample, to create a proportional analysis of the stuttered vowel classes. Comparing these proportions, statistics revealed that some vowel features appear to be associated with stuttering at greater than chance levels. It is unknown whether the underlying mechanisms are related to acoustic or physiologic properties. With more knowledge about the nature of stuttering, hopefully better strategies will be found for speech management in the future.
